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About lifelinelegalnurse

A Registered Nurse of over 15 years, I have made the switch from bedside care to working with attorneys, educating and deciphering medical records. Legal Nurse Consultant, Life Care Planner and Forensic Nurse.

The manner in which we classify a drug as dangerous, addictive, or relatively benign is based on an intricate intersection of chemistry and social norms. For example, LSD (commonly known as acid) is often seen as a drug only for the most committed of counterculture participants, while alcohol is part of many adult social interactions. However, alcohol is directly responsible for more than 2,200 deaths every year in the United States, and LSD has never been named an outright cause of death. So why aren’t our drinking habits referred to as an “alcohol epidemic?”

Something to think about: “Predicting how a drug will affect people’s addiction risk is based on a similarly varied assessment of factors: How much the drug affects their brain’s pleasure centers; the severity of withdrawal symptoms; and the drug’s accessibility and cost.”

To address the challenges of MCS, Fins advocates for the use of neuroimaging as a neuroprosthetic communication tool; the administration of drugs that can alter brain states and speed the recovery of MCS patients; and the application of thalamic deep brain stimulation as a therapeutic intervention.

Fins believes there is a moral obligation to “advance and sustain” these neuroscience and neurotechnology projects that aid in the diagnosis and treatment of patients who are minimally conscious. While it is unethical to deprive these patients of diagnostic accuracy, Fins considers it equally wrong to deprive them of proper rehabilitation, in the form of new drugs and devices that might allow for recovery and the ability to once again engage with others. It is therefore unethical, in his view, to deprive a conscious individual the opportunity to express human companionship and participate in the communities that arise from the ability to communicate. Moving forward, Fins believes scientists and society must recognize the civil rights of the minimally conscious so neuroscience can better serve and connect patients and their families.

The minimally conscious state (MCS) and the persistent vegistative state (PVS) are areas in which recent science has had tremendous breakthroughs, including the use of diffuse tensor imaging (DFI) in monitoring brain activity in these individuals. Coupled with medications, Dr. Finn describes these conscious states as neurally intact, “but, like the lightbulb, they aren’t always ‘on.” Exploring our moral and ethical duties to those who have been ignored in the past is now a absolute obligation.

Our mission is to advance brain injury prevention, research, treatment and education and to improve the quality of life for all individuals impacted by brain injury. Through advocacy, we bring help, hope and healing to millions of individuals living with brain injury, their families and the professionals who serve them.

I have been a member of the BIAA for a couple of years, but today I joined our state chapter here in Washington and signed up as a volunteer! Please consider checking this site out, joining, and donating to this remarkable cause.

Enter your sex, race, and age. Each dot represents one of your simulated lives, and as each year passes, more of your simulated selves pass away. Color corresponds to cause of death, and the bars on the right keep track of the cumulative percentages. By the end, you’re left with the chances that you will die of each cause.

The problem when playing with mortality data is that you realize that the odds of dying at your age are no longer negligible.

So WHEN will you die? According to the CDC, “only the good die young”, with their cause of death sitting high on the “external factors” scale: death due to violence, trauma, suicide, overdose, motor vehicle accidents. etc. The older you get, the more you learn, the less these “external factors” come into play. Finalizing your golden years, your life will end as a result of disease processes and organ failure.

English-American political activist Thomas Paine once stated: “Nothing, they say is more certain than death, and nothing more uncertain than the time of dying.”

Jay Hodes consistently offers important information and guidance that I utilize to manage incoming and outgoing PHI files. As Jay suggests I will complete the OCR’s Security Risk Assessment Tool and make sure Lifeline’s policies adhere to the legal requirements of HIPAA. Thanks for another great post, Jay!

fatigue, migraines, allergies and asthma – will see that there is a way to achieve wellness by changing the way you eat and the way you approach your lifestyle. I hope people will learn that it’s more than just a diet. It’s a 360-degree approach to your lifestyle, and the way you balance your stress is just as important as the way that you’re eating.

I am living proof that switching to primarily raw diet, stress management, self-awareness and exercise WILL change your life. Spiraling to what was surely an early death from autoimmune disease, I was finally open to change (on anything). I was slumped over, walking with a cane and in all honesty, just waiting to die. I didn’t want to live like “that” anymore, wanted it all to end. FOUR DAYS after not only changing my diet and some serious soul searching, I put my cane down and never looked back. That was 8 months ago, and life is good! Changing this drastically is a big leap, but one that could very well save your live! Please feel free to contact me…I would love to share my story in hopes that it helps just one more person!